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Compare Prices on Cyrano de Bergerac Europe - River Cruise Cruises

River cruise from Bordeaux

Sail Date:
August 2014

Destination:
Europe - River Cruise

Embarkation:
Other

Having read the previous reviews I would like to add my comments. We cruised for 5 days as part of a package organised by Leger. We have previously been with them on The Rhine. Leger's part of the holiday went with their usual efficiency, overnight stops, additional days touring, helpful drivers (Paul and John) and the whole package was a reasonable price.

First impression of the boat was favorable, bright, airy, clean. Well organised cabin on the lower deck with plenty of cupboard space. The staff were friendly, especially the 2 girls who served most in the bars.

We were allocated a dining table for the duration of the cruise and had several interesting conversations with the other 2 couples. One thing that we all agreed on was that we were disappointed by the food. We were not shunted of into a reserved corner as sometimes happens on coach tours, we were offered the same as other passengers, but it was just spoiled by cheap ingredients for example, butter turned More
out to be whipped with water and emulsified with the addition of several e-numbers. My husband likened the breakfast cheese to lard and the cooked meat to luncheon meat. Better cheese was served during lunch when we has a cheese course of one slice of cheese accompanied by a dried apricot or a dried fig. The menus read well, rabbit, quail, chicken, duck, hake, sole( some other flat fish was served) but most of the meat had been steam cooked and therefore was lacking flavour. My beef wellington was too tough to cut and surrounded by under-cooked pastry. The usual layer of pate was missing. My husband's seemed to be better, perhaps his was cut from another piece. Usually, we are asked how we like the meat cooked as Beef Wellington is traditionally served pink, but we were given no choice on the matter. Dessert was mostly a slice of some kind of cake. One memorable dessert was a slice of cheap, chocolate, swiss rolll topped by a scoop of nice ice-cream and a sprinkling of grated white chocolate. During the Gala dinner, Baked Alaska flambeed in Grand Marnier was on the menu. It was paraded round to the usual firework accompaniment and one dessert was spectacularly flambeed. However, our portion had not been anywhere near the bottle. We asked where was the Grand Marnier but received no answer from the restaurant manager.

On the plus side, the wine selection was very good, I am told. Several different wines were freely available with special wines being offered on the Gala Night. Unlimited tea and fruit juices kept me going.

Overall, we had a pleasant cruise. I would cruise with that company again but only if the boat was going somewhere I really wanted to visit. Although the food was disappointing, we did not go hungry, it was well presented and it was not inedible. On a couple of occasions I said no thanks to the starter and was offered something different, but the waiter not being sure what I could replace it with, I settled for a green salad, so the staff were helpful.

Entertainment was provided by a singer/keyboard player. My husband, having been a musician for many years was impressed by the way the singer could take both hands off the keyboard, at the same time, and the music continued unabated. Less